J&Ok ‘conversion’ row: Man in jail, sister says ‘didn’t like relationship’

THE household of Shahid Nazir Bhat hasn’t seen him because the morning of June 21, when he left residence for a stroll. For two days, they didn’t hear from him until police got here knocking on their door saying Bhat had eloped with a girl from the Sikh neighborhood and her household had lodged a grievance.
With the 29-year-old now underneath arrest on expenses of kidnapping and legal intimidation, and on the centre of allegations of forcible conversion of Sikh ladies for marriage — which have additionally reached the Union Home Ministry — Bhat’s household says they weren’t in favour of his relationship with Manmeet Kaur.
On Tuesday, after she had been handed again to her household, Kaur was married to a person from Sikh neighborhood. The household is now in Delhi.
Bhat’s household, primarily based in Rainawari, Srinagar, says he’s divorced, with a six-year-old daughter who lives with them. “He and his wife divorced after two years of marriage,” says elder sister Rukaiya Bhat.
The household barely makes ends meet, and is basically depending on earnings of Bhat’s father, an ironsmith. Bhat assists his father aside from doing odd jobs with a tour and journey operator. His three elder sisters are single and stick with the household.
Rukaiya says they weren’t completely satisfied about Bhat’s friendship with Kaur. “My brother has a child and I informed her family that they have been seen together.” An aunt who lives within the household residence and doesn’t want to be named says, “No one knew that they would do this.”
Rukaiya says Bhat left residence at 7 am on June 21 quickly after getting a name. “We thought he would be back by 9.” When he didn’t return residence, the household thought he had gone someplace along with his mates.
Akali Dal chief Manjinder Singh Sirsa tweeted this photograph of Manmeet Kaur in Delhi, saying she had come to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib to “thank the Sangat for their support”.
Rukaiya says the household doesn’t know if Bhat and Kaur acquired married on this time. “I would not be able to say if they had a nikah. We had no communication with him from the time he left, till police told us he had been arrested.”

According to police, on June 25, Bhat and Kaur walked into Rainawari Police Station. Police, that are tight-lipped about why they got here there, produced Kaur earlier than a Justice of the Peace. After she had recorded her assertion, whose specifics aren’t identified, she was handed over to her household.
Her dad and mom, who weren’t allowed into court docket, protested outdoors together with members of Sikh organisations.
Addressing a press convention in Srinagar on June 28, Akali Dal chief Manjinder Singh Sirsa alleged that 4 Sikh ladies had been “forcibly converted and married off” in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the native Sikh management has denied this. Jagmohan Singh Raina, president of the All Party Sikh Coordination Committee in Kashmir, advised The Indian Express, “The people from outside are exploiting the situation for their political interests. They want to worsen the situation.”
However, on Wednesday, Raina demanded implementation of an inter-caste marriage Act and an anti-conversion legislation in J&Ok. “I, on the behalf of the Sikh community, would request that an inter-caste marriage Act be implemented. Once this Act is put in practice, inter-caste marriages would come to an end automatically,” he stated, addressing the press in Srinagar.

Rukaiya says they don’t have any sources to combat for Bhat’s bail in court docket and are banking on the Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema, which has been negotiating a “truce” with the Sikh neighborhood.
The Bhats additionally hope that with Kaur now married to another person, “the dust will settle so that we can have him released”.
Kaur is believed to be within the Capital nonetheless, and was final seen on Tuesday at Bangla Sahib Gurdwara, escorted by Sirsa. She couldn’t be contacted. In Rainawari, little is thought concerning the man she is now married to.